Aloha,

So how do you out shoot your opponent from the field and shoot 50% from 3 and still trail by 6 and the half? The usual suspects. 19 points off 14 turnovers, LeBron and Russ combined for 8. 9 points off of offensive rebounds. And 6 for 11 from the line. The Griz got to most of the 50 50 balls. The Griz had those long pass a heads scouted and picked off most of them, yet we kept doing it. We were sloppy and out hustled. Hope for better things in the 2nd half.

Aloha

The Lakers are still listing AD as day to day with that thumb injury he received weeks ago. I wonder how much of that is effecting his poor shooting. He’s playing through it and against the Celtics he didn’t take a 3 and only a couple of mid range shots. Hopefully if that is the problem, playing won’t aggravate it more because even restricted to shots around the rim he still can dominate.

Aloha,

Last night was yet another painful game to watch. Defensively we did a decent job in the first half but fell apart defensively in the 2nd. We did to PG what you want to do, kept him out of rhythm. But we began to double him in the 4th, way to soon. He didn’t even have to find his groove because we sent Malik before he even did anything with the ball. Now I don’t know if that’s on Frank or Malik but We never waited to see if he could find his rhythm and beat us. But those early doubles killed us. A simple pass or 2 led to wide open 3’s. That hurt even more than all the missed free throws.

Our biggest issues as a team is that we have not been able to establish an identity as a defensive or offensive team. Injuries have played a part for sure but one wonders who we are. After holding the Clips down in the first half we played more of an offensive unit, especially after THT got in foul trouble and gave up 66 points in the 2nd half. We scored ourselves but couldn’t find a defense when we needed it most.

Our offense since Frank arrived has been, give it a star and get out of the way. Which was okay because we had a top defense that kept us in games. But we brought in offense and either traded or let our defenders walk. Now we have more fire power but we still have the give it a star offense. If we are going to become a great offense we need to start utilizing the scorers we brought in. So far every shooter we have brought in over the last 3 years haven’t lived up to expectations because they never get enough touches or shots to find a rhythm. If we are not going to start moving bodies and then he ball we might as well go with out best defenders and hope for the best.

Now help maybe on the way. Trevor is practicing now. We could go small with a front line of LeBron, AD and Trevor. This could give us enough defensive presence to be able to hide lesser defenders like Ellington or Monk at the
2. But unless we actually involve them in the offense it’s not going to help much on the offensive end.

For me the jury is still out on LeBron, he’s been in and out of the line up so it’s understandable that he hasn’t found his groove. Still we have only seen a few flashes of dominant LeBron. He’s been solid but not his usual self. And the high volume of 3’s he’s been taking has hurt much more often than helped. If Father Time is finally catching up to him, it’s even more important that we run an offense that will allow more of the others to flourish.

Aloha,

Just thinking about tonight. Who do you have guarding PG? Personally I would put AD on him. PG is
not a quick first step guy and AD should be able to stay in front of him. This is actually one of those matchups that favors AD at the 4, at least until Trevor comes back.

Aloha

Well what do you know. We finally managed a blow out. With the exception of the Bucks game, this was the first game that we played hard for an entire half. Going in to the season I expected a lot of growing pains. You can excuse the mistakes we have been making because of the new roster but you can’t excuse the lack of energy we have been playing with. Sure it was the Kings but play with that kind of energy and intensity and you have a good chance of winning even against the top teams. And you surely will win against the teams you should beat.

Game ball to Dwight. His energy was infectious. Even when he didn’t grab the rebound himself he would keep it alive for others. I really don’t get Frank’s fascination with DJ. Dwight has out played DJ in nearly every game. Our center rotation should be Dwight, AD and LeBron. DJ should be in only in case of injury or foul trouble.

Isn’t it amazing that when you look for your 3 point shooters and get them good looks they get you 3’s? Malik and Wayne combined went 9 for 16. That will get it done. AD and Russ went 1 for 7. That won’t. Let the shooters shoot. The next step will be finding the shooters when LeBron returns. Now there is a lot of minutes when all 3 stars are not on the floor together. If we can’t find our shooters when all 3 stars are playing. At least look for them when they are not.

Wayne’s defense was much better than advertised. He contributed to Buddy having an off night. And Malik was good as well. I think Wayne should get the start at the 2. Because Malik can create I like him off the bench when either LeBron or Russ rests.

I wonder about THT. He was holding that knee and left the game and didn’t return. I haven’t heard anything yet. I hope he’s okay, we can’t afford another injury.

AD started the game inside and was dominating. Move to the outside and missed a bunch of shots. Went back inside in the 2nd half and dominated again. I hope he stays inside most of the time, at least until he straightens out his shot.

Russ sucked in the first half. But he owned it and became himself in the 2nd half. I think he came out thinking playmaker for others. He can’t do that, he has to be himself and attack. That’s when things really opened up for our shooters. And he found his rhythm and the misses turned into makes. He has to be Russ because when he try’s to be C3P it doesn’t work.

Aloha

Yet another snoozer.

Why did we sign Wayne if he is going to get one shot in 15 minutes. I mean do we have any plays?

AD was dominating inside and then decided to settle. Missing five mid range and a 3.

Another bad half by Russ. 2 assists and 4 turnovers. 3 missed layups. We signed him to take over for LeBron if out. He hasn’t done it much this year.

So tell me again why we start DJ over Dwight. He constantly out preforms DJ. He’s keeping us in it with 10 points.

Can we stop a few pick and rolls please?

11 turnovers. The only good news is the Kings have 10.

LeBron is out tonight due to health and safety protocols. Talk about a snake bit season. It never ends.

Aloha

Well yes we won, but there is no way I can call this a good win. Another big lead blown to a poor team is not a good win. The emotion I felt afterwards wasn’t joy or happiness, it was relief that we managed to hold on.

After the Kings loss, Robert Horry had an interesting observation. He said that when we pulled ahead by 13 he was a lot of smiles, laughter and celebration. He said in the Kobe Shaq days when they went up by 13 they wanted to step on your neck and destroy you. And when you think about it, after a big run, Kobe would still have his game face on. So with that comment still lingering in my head I watched the teams reaction during the time out after we went up 19. Smiles, laughter and celebration. We took our foot off there neck and let them back in the game. We stopped playing the way we did to build the lead.

Last night our big 3 carried us. But that is not a championship formula. If even had an off night we probably lose that game. THT managed to get a little involved but the other guys were reduced to spectators. Shooter need to shoot. This team really needs to create opportunities for the others if they expect to win.

Aloha

Just a couple of first half observations. Why DJ over Dwight? We played LeBron at the 5, so why not start Dwight. Makes no sense.

We gave up defense to bring in 3 point shooters. Malik and Wayne each got one shot. If you wonder why 3 point shooters never pan out here, that’s why. Shooters need to shoot. Monk was on a roll and he’s been basically ignore. There will be no championship unless we can get more guys involved. It’s literally 3 on 5.

Aloha,

I watched the Warriors beat the Clippers by 15 in Staples. And I came away with a few takeaways. Steph is definitely the best player in the NBA, still our big 3 are better over all then then their top 3. You can even argue that our role players are more talented over all then then they are. So why are they 18 and 2 and we are 10 and 11?

First there is the continuity issue. Most of Warriors played together last year. But that is only a small part of it. The bigger issue is coaching.

The Warriors players are constantly moving as is the ball. Our offense is, iso one of our stars and get out of the way. No ball movement and no player movement. There is a lot a talk about adding more offensive punch to the starting unit which only makes sense if they are going to get them involved in the offense. If not, what’s the point?

The Warriors play under sized but they are locked in defensively and they gang rebound. The Clippers were much bigger but only out rebounded then by 4. And the Warriors got 11 offensive boards.

It’s up to the coaches to get the players moving and getting everyone involved. I watched Draymond do the things that LeBron should be doing more of, if only Frank had the guys moving.

If we must go big I would start Dwight and have him, LeBron and AD rotate at the 5. If we do the sensible thing and start AD at the 5 then I would start either Malik or Ellington at the 2 and THT at the 3. THT actually played well last game but only got 24 minutes and Ellington also played well in his 16 minutes. Yet we let LeBron and Melo play close to 50. As good as they are at their ages they need more of a blow from time to time. We saw LeBron completely gassed with the game on the line and that’s cost us the game.

Yes the players have to play with more energy and commitment but ultimately it’s up to the coaching staff to get the best out of them. If Frank can’t do that he may not be around when the rest of our players are back.

Aloha

AD is out with the flu.

Aloha,

Poor Luke he never had a chance. The Kings are a dumpster fire. They have 5 centers on the roster, 6 if you count Bagley, who can play both the 4 and the 5. A long history of questionable drafts hasn’t helped either.

Aloha

Last night the Lakers banged my table and nearly knocked over my half full glass. Now I wasn’t one of those guys that predicted the Lakers would burn through the NBA to open the season. I knew when you turn over almost your entire roster there are going to be growing pains. And all the injuries only made matters worse. So I wouldn’t even mind the losses if we were playing with the energy required to win in the NBA. Unfortunately I think the Bucks loss was the only one that we found that energy. We made the Thunder, Twolves, Celtics and trailblazers all look like title contenders. The Lakers are the team you play to heal.

I believe the the blame can be spread evenly between Rob, Frank and the players. I think Rob over thought the situation. Now I have never been on board with 3 super stars. I have always been more of a deep support cast for 2 stars. Sure we struggled when our stars were hurt last year but the reality is that it hasn’t changed. If AD or LeBron go down in the playoffs we aren’t going to win a ring even with Russ. Now Russ was about the only star we could have traded for with our assets. The Wizards needed to get out from under his massive salary and build a team around a Beal, and they did a great job. There was DeRozen but a sign and trade would have hard capped us and knowing Pop he would have asked for AD and draft picks in return. 😂

The problem is that the team Rob put together isn’t the defensive team that we have been. We now have to score a lot to win. Our offensive system is basically, put the ball in a stars hand and get out of the way. And that’s fine when you are a top notch defensive team. Not so much when you aren’t. If the Warriors with all of the player and ball movement, I wonder if even Steph Curry could excel like he does in our offense.

Honestly I think we would have been better bringing most of the core back. Even trading for Buddy would have been a waste because this offense has never been one to create good looks for 3 point specialists. Love or hate Dennis, he was a quality defender. I honestly believe at fair price he is a better fit then Russ has been because of that defense. I mean nearly every post game James Worthy mentions him and his D.

Look at this roster.

Dennis (again reasonable salary)
AD
LeBron
THT
Kuz
Alex
KCP
Nunn
Ellington
Monk
Melo
Trevor
Dwight
Reeves

That would have been is a better team than this one. Primarily because the defense would have made up for our lack of a dynamic offense.

Now after all of that my glass hasn’t tipped over quite yet. Both Nunn and Trevor will bring much needed defense, along with new dedicated energy to the defensive side we will get better. But the offense needs to be fixed. THT didn’t have a great night, but only getting 6 shots after his last 3 games, is clear example of the problem. AD even said in the post game that THT needed more looks. Yes we do need to learn to play together with LeBron. As long as we put the ball in a stars hands and get out of the way, we will continue to struggle. And if the energy isn’t dramatically improved it will be a very long season.